Category: music

New York Philharmonic executive director Zarin Mehta will take on the title of orchestra president, according to the ensemble’s board chairman. Mehta, who came to New York after leading the Chicago Symphony’s Ravinia Festival, was a major player in the search that led to the hiring of Loren Maazel as the Phil’s music director. Mehta’s day-to-day duties will not change with the new title – most American orchestra CEOs also carry the title of president – and the move appears to be largely a vote of confidence in his leadership at a time when the Phil faces several challenges.

“The world of classical music was in turmoil this morning when officials of the Professional Orchestra League revealed that seven principal players of the New York Philharmonic had tested positive for steroids and would receive automatic life suspensions from the league.” In other surprising industry news, the principal clarinetist of the Cleveland Orchestra has been demoted to the minor leagues, and San Francisco has traded its concertmaster to St. Louis for “its entire flute section and a violist to be named later.”

“The Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer John Adams is the first recipient of Northwestern University’s Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Musical Composition. The biennial award carries a cash award of $100,000 and honors living composers of widely recognized achievement. It is one of the largest in classical music.”

Conductor Samuel Wong is stepping down as music director of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. The move is being cast as Wong’s own decision, but the orchestra was informed not by the conductor himself, but by the orchestra’s president, without Wong in attendance. “Wong just completed his eighth season with the Honolulu Symphony. He will remain as the conductor laureate for the 2005-06 season and conduct at least six concerts over the next two seasons.” As for what he’ll do next, Wong, who holds a degree in opthalmology from Harvard, is hoping to help start an Institute of Music & Healing, which would deal with music-related injuries.

Daniel Barenboim says he won’t appear with the Chicago Symphony again as guest conductor after his contract runs out in 2005-2006. He has said he “disliked guest conducting, preferring to work with orchestras on a longer-term basis.”

“Planned alterations to the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank are “disastrous” and an “act of architectural vandalism”, according to the Twentieth Century Society, which protects Britain’s legacy of modernist architecture.”

Changes in the criteria for the Pulitzer Prize for music to broaden it are provoking controversy. Defenders say: “The board has been concerned for many years that the full range of exellence in American music was not somehow getting through the process in such a way that it could be properly and appropriately considered. The changes in the wording are intended to make sure that the full range of excellence can be considered. The prize should not be reserved essentially for music that comes out of the European classical tradition.”

A new music chart will track the popularity of phone ring tones. An estimated £70m of ringtones were sold in 2003 – up from £40m in 2002. The fortnightly chart will count down the 20 most popular tones downloaded onto mobile phones and will be published in Music Week magazine. Most current pop hits are available to buy as mobile phone rings for between £1.50 and £3.50.”

The New York Philharmonic tests a new handheld device that beams information to audience members while the orchestra performs. “The device, nicknamed CoCo by its creators, also features program notes and video images, all delivered in real time from a computer backstage. Think of Cliff Notes for the musically challenged.”

The Pulitzer Prizes are expanding in the music category, broadening the award in music that would “open the door to musical theater scores, film scores and works containing large elements of improvisation, in theory even an improvised jam session with a jazz ensemble. The move is sure to win plaudits in some circles, especially in Hollywood, on Broadway and within organizations like Jazz at Lincoln Center, while provoking criticism among more traditional composers at many of America’s universities.”